7. The First Move

- Wybert Dunmar has a plan – Damir started. - Most of the people living in this place either make their living from scavenging the battlefields or because of the rare materials since it's hard to actually farm. There were several major battles on those lands. The last ones were something around ten years ago. People pick weapons and armor, to sell as iron. Some hunt wild beasts or pick up rare herbs. Everybody would love to start mining the ore in the mountains, but nobody can afford that yet. That's our merchant's goal. Farming is hard because of the bandits that would just burn your fields, so if anything, the locals just keep the small flocks of animals. Something they can take with them in case of an emergency.

- He wants to open a mine in the mountains, but he can't? I don't get it – Akichi said.

- The whole war started because of the rare ore, and the more common ones too, in the mountains, but don't bother yourselves with that yet. Wybert Dunmar wants to unite the few villages in this place to secretly build his kingdom here, The plan was to create an enemy for them all, to unite under his banner. Then quietly build a kingdom in this place. You were supposed to be a part of the undead army of a mysterious necromancer. That's me. According to his plan, we were supposed to attack a few nearby camps, a village maybe, then he could point out this as a problem, and have an excuse to unite all the scum that lives here – Damir explained. - He has his whole mercenary army. Over a hundred people. Enough for all the bandits, who would have a problem dealing with fifty skeletons, to beg him for support.

- But you didn't make fifty skeletons – Akichi pointed out. - And why can't he just use the mercenaries to take over this place?

The man ended up shrugging his shoulders.

- Not enough materials – he said. - Besides I told him I can raise more when you start killing people. As far as the mercenaries go, he will have both Gorgas and Navenia on his ass if he just does this, so the pretext is required.

- So we should pretend to be on his side? - Vincenzo asked. - To buy ourselves time, so we can get stronger, before defeating him? Is that what you are suggesting?

- We need time. That is a fact – the necromancer stated. - And he is the only one who knows about us, so he is the only one who can take this time from us. Maybe should pretend that everything is alright... We currently are in a system of natural caves. Well… Mostly natural. I'm sharing it with goblins, as you probably already noticed. They don't really know that I'm here… At least they didn't know before I sent you to attack them, but I still have some protective magic to keep them away, so there is nothing to actually worry about from their side. Anyway... I was actually supposed to kill them all, to show to Wybert your potential. So I think that is what you should do now. Deal with the goblins, get stronger, and then we can talk about the next step.

As the last words left his mouth, both skeletons noticed, yet again, the familiar pop-up.

[You received a new quest!]

- Status! - both said immediately.

The orange, semitranslucent window appeared in front of their eyes. They switched the tab from 'The Overview' to 'Quests'. On the bottom of the table was a new entry.

[Quest name: Kill the goblin chieftain

Description: Girik is the ruthless leader of the goblin tribe living in your caves. Deal with him and his people!

Reward: +100 soul fragments

Status: Active]

- New mission? - Damir asked.

- Yes – the two of them said at the same moment.

It made the necromancer smile a bit.

- So… - he continued. - If you were to ask me what to do first, I would say that you should indeed deal with the goblins. You should get stronger, at least a little bit, if you deal with them. Besides, this is quite a new tribe, so they should be weak. Maybe with the exception of their leader, but before you get to him, you should be able to win. Not to mention, we still have the other skeletons.

Both partially ignored him, focusing on the reading of the new quest they just received, but as soon as they finished, they turned the window off, to look back at him.

- We should level up – Akichi stated. - I checked my requirements, and I need more strength, HP, some skills, and a hundred soul fragments. If I counted correctly, I need twelve hundred soul fragments to do that.

- I'm not sure if the two of you will find enough goblins for that here – said Damir.

- We can always try. Even an additional skill would be nice – the first skeleton said.

- To get the soul fragments, you need to be the one to kill. The information only popped for me when I was the one taking the life, so I'm not sure if we should actually take the other skeletons with us – said Vincenzo.

- If you go alone, you might not make it – the necromancer pointed out.

- Can't you buff us, or something? - Akichi asked. - You are a spell caster after all.

This made Damir scratch his chin for a moment, as he thought, before speaking out loud once again.

- I guess I could do something. I just never did it, and I'm not sure… - he glanced behind himself, at the alchemical equipment in the room. - I'm not sure if I have all the ingredients. Let me check first.

- What about armor? Do you have any armor? - Vincenzo asked.

- I only brought weapons with me, when I was digging out stuff – Damir said, pointing at the pile under the blue crystal.

Then he got up and went to rummage through some of the pouches on one of the tables with the alchemical ingredients.

- If you give me an hour or two, I could probably dig you some helmets, and maybe a chainmail, but I doubt anything besides plate armor would be beneficial for you. Every hit in anything elastic will reach your bones anyway – he then continued.

- Then get the helmets. We will wait – said Vinchenzo.

- Ha! - The mage suddenly shouted, picking something up off the table, then he looked at the skeletons, still sitting on his bed. - I have it! I can do some magic on you.

He was holding a big pouch filled with some dark grains.

- What is this? - Akichi asked.

- And what exactly do you want to do with us? - Asked Vincenzo.

- Those are Corpsette seeds. The main ingredient for a potion that will allow me to use magic because currently I'm drained of power. I had to fight with this thing before – he pointed at the blue crystal. - And it was not easy. As for the spell, I'm gonna cast on you, it will be a magic infusion for your bones. A spell called 'Black bones'. It will temporarily make you stronger. I'm not sure exactly how much, because I've never done it before. In theory, it should be enough to deal with the goblins, even for just the two of you. Just… If something goes wrong, run back here. This place is relatively safe.

As he spoke, the semitranslucent, orange pop-up showed up again in front of Vincenzo's eyes:

[Book of Berries has been updated]

[Your 'Knowledge' – 'Botany' has increased by 5%]

- That was very inspiring of you – said Vincenzo, not hiding his sarcasm at all.

He then opened the 'Book of Berries', to check what changed. The description was slightly different, as a little bit more was added to it:

[Name: Corpsette

Description: A blue flower growing only in places of mass burial. It possesses from seven to nine petals, a long, green, slim stalk with two long leaves growing alongside it from the base of the flower. The seeds are relatively small and black

They hold some mana, generated by the plant, and stored in them to help the new plants grow.

Properties: Energizing: Mana]

The most interesting for him was the change in the 'Property' column. Before there was 'None' written there, but now the entry was 'Energizing: Mana'. He didn't really understand what that meant, so he closed the whole window, to leave the deeper exploration of that part of the system for later.

- Stop being mean. It was very nice – Akichi argued. - He cares for us. It was very sweet actually.

He said it while Vincenzo was reading, so for the response, he needed to wait a moment.

- Stop before I'm going to puke - the second skeleton didn't back down when he finally spoke.

Akichi let out a sound kinda similar to a snort and opened his own system, to check what changed, which killed the conversation.

- While you argue, I'm gonna take care of the potion – Damir told them, as he immediately began working.